Tale of a Tom Brady jersey

My two daughters attend the Jacob Hiatt Magnet School in Worcester. Helen and Katerine are in second and first grade, respectively, and they love going to school. My wife and I have been extremely impressed with the dedicated staff and their high expectations for all of the children that attend Jacob Hiatt. As one of 33 elementary schools in the Worcester public schools system, Jacob Hiatt has an extended school day, and more than 70 percent of its students are raised in low-income households. Many of the children are first-generation Americans and come from homes where English is not the primary language.

Prior to the Super Bowl, the school had a dress-down day in lieu of wearing uniforms. Oftentimes, dress-down days have a theme and this particular day was focused on the upcoming Super Bowl and sports. Like all of her classmates, my daughter Helen was very excited about this dress-down day and repeatedly asked my wife to buy her a Tom Brady jersey.

As a father, Patriots fan and former high school and college quarterback (well, fourth-string QB for a Division III college football team), I was excited that my daughter was suddenly interested in football. In the past, I have attempted to explain the rules of the game to her and why we root for the Patriots. Their school is named after a man whose family now owns the Patriots, which I’ve told Helen and Katerine many times.

Nonetheless, they both prefer that I watch Disney’s “Good Luck Charlie” or “Sponge Bob” instead of football. Needless to say, I was surprised but appreciative of Helen’s sudden interest in wanting a Tom Brady jersey.

Though I hoped my previous attempts to teach Helen about football and the Patriots were effective, my wife quickly burst my bubble. As it turns out, Helen only wanted a Tom Brady jersey because he is her teacher’s favorite player.

This revelation, while deflating to my football aspirations, again reinforced to me what a significant role teachers play in shaping our children’s lives. Children, especially the younger ones like my daughters, look up to their teachers and want to meet their expectations in almost every way.

Beyond just football jerseys, day in and day out, Massachusetts educators work hard to excite and motivate young people to excel academically. Many different measures have Massachusetts students leading the nation as well as the world in academic achievement. However, achievement gaps and disparities still exist in schools across the state.

We need to keep moving the ball downfield to provide all students the opportunity for a promising and successful future. Gov. Deval Patrick and I are committed to working with the Legislature, educators and other partners to build a 21st-century public education system that meets the needs for every child to succeed in the classroom, the workplace and in life.

You have likely heard of the plan Mr. Patrick has laid out to accomplish this — raise new revenue that will be directed to education, as well as transportation and innovation. We know these investments are critical to accelerating our economic growth and creating greater opportunities for future generations.

•Funding for initiatives that will expand access to early education, a critical step to ensuring that all students are proficient in reading by the end of third grade.

•Increasing the number of schools that can extend their school days, an action we know helps to keep kids from dropping out of school.

•Funding to make higher education more affordable.

The governor and I know that asking people to pay more by any type of tax increase is never easy. However, when our children succeed academically, we strengthen our economy in both the short and long term as we build the workforce Massachusetts employers are clamoring for every day.

When this happens, Massachusetts wins, and that is worthy of a Tom Brady touchdown pass, which I think would make my daughter’s second-grade teacher proud.

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